The $25-million bounty posted on Saddam Hussein’s head by the US government and the $15 million for his sons are reminiscent of the “Wanted — Dead or Alive” posters of America’s Wild West past and will probably reinforce the view held by many that the Bush administration has a cowboy mentality. However, it would be wrong to quibble about it. The reward offered is not a “Wanted — Dead or Alive” offer — a cavalier dismissal of the law designed to encourage bounty hunters to go out and find Saddam and his sons and, if necessary, kill them. It is what authorities all over the world occasionally do — offer rewards for information leading to the capture and arrest of hard-to-find criminals. It is perfectly legitimate.
The killing on Thursday night of yet another American serviceman and the wounding of 18 others a few hours later underlines how dangerous Iraq remains. Allied soldiers are being attacked daily. Since the war ended, some 26 US servicemen have been killed; British soldiers too have been killed, six of them in a single incident last month. These attacks do not seem to be coordinated, not yet, but there is good reason to believe that those behind them are supporters of the old regime who hope to restore Saddam Hussein, rather than ordinary Iraqis resentful at foreign occupation.
There is unfinished business here. It is not enough to have decapitated the old regime; it has to be seen to have been decapitated. All the evidence indicates that Saddam and his sons survived the war and, certainly until recently, remained in Iraq. Until they are either captured or killed, they will act as a focus for those who grew fat under their rule to try and turn back the clock. Find Saddam and his sons, and the attacks will diminish; do nothing and they will increase, and probably become more coordinated.
We could now say to the Americans and British: We told you so; you should not have got involved in Iraq. You’ve made your bed, you must lie in it. That, however, would be grossly irresponsible. It would be a disaster — political and humanitarian, and on a grand scale — if the Americans were to do a runner as they did from Somalia in 1994 because public opinion back home could not stomach American blood being shed in some far-off land. There would be civil war. In the scramble for power the remaining Baathists and elements of the old army, both known for their cruelty, together with the various militias and others would turn Iraq into a killing field.
The Americans have to pull out at some point, but it has to be done in an ordered fashion with power being transferred to a stable, accepted authority. In the meantime, they have to stay — and finish what they started.
